Why You Need to 'Go Full Tilt on Your Dream' in Your 20s episode artwork

EPISODE · Feb 27, 2026 · 19 MIN

Why You Need to 'Go Full Tilt on Your Dream' in Your 20s

from The GaryVee Audio Experience · host Gary Vaynerchuk

In this episode of the GaryVee Audio Experience, I sit down with Benji, the host of New Yorker to discuss why New York City is the "greatest city in the actual world," my advice for young people navigating their careers and the AI revolution, and my takes on the Knicks, Jets, and Lions. I'm grateful that we also dived into my love for the city in every phase and the influence of New York's visual IP on VeeFriends. You’ll learn:Why I believe New York is the "most electric" and "most merit-based" city.The argument for why young, curious, and hungry people should move to New York for "the serendipity of humanity".Why I advise creative and entrepreneurial youngsters to "go full tilt on your dream" between the ages of 18 and 30.My warning that AI is a "tidal wave" and the two choices people have for dealing with it.My prediction that the Knicks "should make the finals" this year.

In this episode of the GaryVee Audio Experience, I sit down with Benji, the host of New Yorker to discuss why New York City is the "greatest city in the actual world," my advice for young people navigating their careers and the AI revolution, and my takes on the Knicks, Jets, and Lions. I'm grateful that we also dived into my love for the city in every phase and the influence of New York's visual IP on VeeFriends. You’ll learn:Why I believe New York is the "most electric" and "most merit-based" city.The argument for why young, curious, and hungry people should move to New York for "the serendipity of humanity".Why I advise creative and entrepreneurial youngsters to "go full tilt on your dream" between the ages of 18 and 30.My warning that AI is a "tidal wave" and the two choices people have for dealing with it.My prediction that the Knicks "should make the finals" this year.

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Why You Need to 'Go Full Tilt on Your Dream' in Your 20s

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When you're a kid, you need to fucking go full-tilt on your dream. Eighteen to 30 is fucking straight high-risk, high-reward fucking life. You will never have less fucking responsibilities, and you will never have more energy, and you'll never have, like, you're now grown, but you're not fully, like, responsible grown. Twenty-thirty is a fucking movie, and people are settling and going safe when you should be a psycho.

You should go do stand-up comedy, like, go right now to fucking, to the seller and just fucking trot. Like, this is when you need to be a maniac and bet the fucking balls on it. And so, like, to me, what would I do? Get a job that's closest to who you want to be one day and live within the means of that job's pay.

This is the Gary V Audio Experience. What's good, everybody? It's Gary V, and I'm with New Yorkers Live. So, we've got a New York City media company.

Yes. New Yorkers, New Yorkers Live, NY Sports. I think, definitely, I've been consuming it for over ten years, from the early days of IG and Facebook as well. I'd love to ask you some questions that are New York City-related.

Thrilled. Because our content is all New York City-based. We have the largest sports page on Instagram, NY Sports. Love.

We're close to it. We have a couple of sports. Alright, so first question, we're going to ask you. Gary V.

Yes. Vayner, office, thousands of people here, dozens of offices across the world. Why New York City? Why do you choose to be in New York City?

Oh, this is super fun. Guys, this is not even for the New York City crowd. Does anyone have any viable debate that this is not the greatest city in the world? Like, the ludicrous concepts of like, oh, it's chill here, it's pretty here.

Like, this is the greatest city in the actual world. In the actual world. Not in America. In the actual fucking world.

This is by far the most electric, most merit-based. Watch this. Kindness, if you understood. Like, dude, you know, it's really, it's fucking alien people that live on this little island, that amount of people that are here.

People will talk about the five to fifty to eighty bad things that happen. What about the brilliance of interactions that are happening right now? Do you know much courtesy and kindness and good behavior? I see every day in New York City.

People getting up for an old lady in the back. This is the greatest fucking city. Guys, even in America, big cities. Chicago, LA.

All these. Has anybody been there at midnight? It's fucking dead. It's over.

Have you ever gone outside at one thirty after doing something in the city? It's like, it feels like it's fucking noon. Those cities alive. They fucking map this a long time ago of the city that never sleeps.

This is the most competitive, most fucking real authentic, like most challenging yet fucking fulfilling city in the world. And there is no distance second. So that's the answer to your question. I couldn't even comprehend it.

Living in it. All my fucking homies that got soft and moved to other places. Because they wanted to save a little money. Like, you can't save me enough money to leave the fucking grandstand.

I'm super happy you're down there getting a tan, playing in the minor fucking leagues. It's the greatest fucking city in the world. I hope you're enjoying the podcast right now. Make sure you follow the podcast.

That's why I'm interrupting. Let's keep going on this show, but follow the podcast. Don't make my mom super happy. What about Miami?

A lot of companies are moving to Miami. A lot of friends that I grew up with in New York and moved to Miami. Listen, I don't judge another man and women's objectives or what makes them happy. But we're talking about the game of life.

Like, you can play in the G League or you can play in the NBA? Is Miami the G League? Yeah, by the way, that's giving love to Miami. I mean, like, there's other places like Boston that is like high school basketball.

Right. So love to Miami, but like, this is the fucking NBA. What about for business opportunities? You've built such a successful career and a lot of that was HQ in New York.

Yes. Do you think that young people need to be in your city to start their careers and take advantage of those opportunities or now with everything that we do remote? Like, do people need to come here to build their careers? I think they need to come here if they want the serendipity of humanity.

What does New York offer? The serendipity of humanity, right? Like, listen, again, with all jokes aside about Miami and Boston and all this, please, please edit this properly, man. Like, everyone should live where they want, how they want, what they want.

Everyone has different needs, right? You know, like, some people need to live by the water. Some people need to hike every day. Some people want to live by their parents.

Some people need more backyard for their dog. Like, everyone needs to decide what they want to decide. There is no shit. There is no shit.

I can have passion on New York's the best of all time, but like, there is no, that works for me. That being said, if you're a youngster, like, I see a lot of youngsters in my DMs right now, talking about, like, fuck me, I'm starting to get tired of this remote work thing. They're in Bergen County, New Jersey, right there, which I love, I'm a Jersey boy, so I love Jersey the best. But like, the difference is when you're in the office in New York, and it's 645, and you go outside, like, the day begins.

Yeah. 645 in the suburbs remote work, like, you're bringing a soda and watching Netflix. Like, you know, it's a different life. And so there's the serendipity of humanity, the experiences, the, just like, the fucking culture, the vibe, the living.

So no, I don't think they have to, but I think for many of us who are extroverts, who love people, who love chance, who love stumbling on something new, or are curious, are hungry, like, of course, it's better to be here physically. So for those youngins, because you have a lot of youngins in your DMs, we have a lot of youngins that follow the New Yorkers' page. What advice do you have for someone that's trying to make it for themselves? We have high schoolers that follow us that don't want to go to college.

I speak to high schoolers that don't want to go to college. You've been talking about this for a long time about people that, you know, maybe colleges are for everyone. If someone's playing a skip college and they're getting into the business world, what advice do you have for them on navigating that? So college, I think, for someone who's creative or entrepreneurial, if you're going to college and you're collecting debt, because mom and dad are not supporting that, you've got to really think twice, because you're putting yourself in a very tough hole, and you're going into an institution that doesn't really map to your skill set.

It's just real talk. Obviously, lawyer, doctor, there's so many things that should go to those infrastructures, especially if mom and dad are paying. You should all go. It's a vacation.

Go to keg stanza and hookah, but it's the best. But, you know, what I would say to them is try to get close to the sun, meaning if you want to be in the music industry, go be a fucking intern or fucking admin for an executive that you admire. Like, a lot of people will pick five or $10,000 more in salary and be like, low-man on a totem pole around industry, don't care about, pick a Knicks fan, and you want to be in the sports business. Like, go be the assistant of the assistant at the garden to Leon Rose, because that's what you want to do.

Yet, they'll go and work at VaynerMedia for 5,000 more, but the fuck does that have to do with your dream? When you're a kid, you need to fucking go full tilt on your dream. 20 to 30, 18 to 30, is fucking straight, high-risk, high-reward fucking life. You will never have less fucking responsibilities, and you will never have more energy, and you'll never have, you're now grown, but you're not fully like responsible grown.

20 to 30 is a fucking movie, and people are settling and going safe when you should be a psycho. You should go do stand-up comedy. Like, go right now to fucking, to the seller and just fucking trot. Like, this is when you need to be a maniac, and bet the fucking balls on it.

And so, like, to me, what would I do? Get a job that's closest to who you want to be one day, and live within the means of that job's pay. Name your love, and you'll learn from someone who's, yeah. If you get lucky, and you have like a real homie that you, she or he's like, really looking out for you?

If you're like the admins admin, well, then you'll go to the moon, but even if they're not, you're gonna fucking learn. Even if they're a jerk, you're gonna fucking learn. That's a real fucking education. And again, my big thing is in your 20s, like, there's 22-year-olds that are watching right now, I'm like, yo, go live with three of your buddies in a shithole.

They're like, yeah, fucking gonna do kang stands up like bushlight. Like, you can eat fucking bojangles and drink daddy light when you're fucking 23. I promise you can't do that when you're older. You know, so like, I don't know, like fucking go hot.

And now with this shit and social, what the fuck are you doing right now? Like, this wasn't real 40 years ago, so I want people to go ham 18 to 30 and just fucking, don't live life with a gret, like whatever you want to be, be that, but you're gonna have to eat shit. The biggest thing that people understand is you have to eat shit if you want something really phenomenal, or mommy and daddy are gonna subsidize you, but I would tell you that if mom and dad want to pay for your dreams, you should tell them no, so they have no control. So you're a man and woman on your own two feet and you fucking do it yourself.

Let me ask you about AI, because you've been so early to so many trends. Everyone wants to know how AI will impact their lives. People have positive and negative feelings towards it. Our content is all about New York City.

So I want to ask you, New York City specific, how do you think AI will change New York City? What jobs do you think will be most impacted by AI in New York City? Where do you think the most opportunities will be when it comes to AI in New York City? Anywhere you want to take, what will AI do to New York City?

AI is gonna change the world, you guys all know that. There's going to be job re-correction because of it. AI in New York City will take people's jobs that don't think. They're taking orders from someone.

Hey, design this in Adobe, you're in trouble. If you're a designer in New York and you just take direction from someone, well, you're in trouble. You gotta learn how to use that. If you're doing something that AI can do without you, that's a problem.

So the thinking, the creativity, the strategy, people need to focus on that. What it won't take for a while is the electrician's job, the waiter, the sommelier, the physical stuff, which New York has a ton of. So look, I think the blue collar worker is good. It's the white collar worker.

It's somebody making a fuck 80 who thinks they're an analyst that Chachi PD can do, right? So we all have to be on call. This is how it works. Like shit changes.

Like, I want the biggest marketing agency in the world. AI is going to change my world. Like, I'm bullish AI because I believe in technology and I believe in people. But it's going to affect my world.

And if I'm not careful, I'm going to get cooked. And so I just think this is a mindset. How it's going to affect New York? It's going to affect New York the way it's going to affect everybody else in the world.

This technology is profound. It's going to matter. Everybody has to figure it out. And my big thing on this one, I'm just trying to bring value right now to the New Yorkers, but anybody who stumbles on this.

This is a tidal wave. You have two choices. Head and say and pray. That doesn't kill you.

Or grab a surfboard and ride the fuck out of it. I highly recommend you do the latter. What does that mean? Go start doing research, figure it out.

Don't demonize AI because you're scared of what's going to do to you. Because it's going to do it to you anyway. It's like being a sports fan. When we boo the heat or the painters, it doesn't stop them from scoring.

In fact, if you're a psycho, like me and hate comments make me better. You know what I mean? And so we can't boo AI. It's not going to stop it.

Johnny, Johnny who's watching right now from the Bronx. You being like, I should have pulled shit. It's not going to stop AI. What it's going to do is mean that Johnny who said, fuck it, Gary Vee said AI is important.

Let me put three hours in research. That might change Johnny's life. Having a beer with your two buddies. And be like, yeah, AI sucks, right?

Johnny, AI sucks, okay. And that's what you said about the computer. That's what people said about the internet. That's what people said about the mobile device.

Like, it's coming and you need to be ready for it. I want to ask you about content creators. We work with a lot of content creators. A lot of content creators work with the page.

Which content creators most influence you in New York City? And which content creators are you that you want to put anyone on? Does anyone that you've been watching or anything and when it comes onto your feed, they want to shout out? So one thing I hate to do is bullshit.

So there's nothing right now that's like, oh my god. I will say that, you know, the food crew, big shout out to all the food critics. I think they're really good. New York's so insane with food.

So I give a lot of shout out to them. I actually just was at Swish breaks in Midtown. Big shout out to them. They're doing a live shop.

I'm obsessed with live shopping. You probably see. You need to figure out how to fucking sell fucking big apple t-shirts. I don't give a fuck.

Figure it out. Here's what I would say. Big shout out to everyone who makes content. There's a lot of New Yorkers that do this.

Who are doing shit that they fucking love painting. They love street interviews. They love fashion. They love the mix.

They do it because they like it. Not because they think they're going to get money from it or get famous from it or get used from it. They make the content they think that they want to make. They know those other things might happen, but it's authentic as fuck to them.

Yeah. They're the ones that I can in my feed. I'm like, OK, that kid's got something. Yeah.

And so that's what I look for. Are there anything you've been in New York City for decades? Is there anything about old school New York that you miss? I hate that shit, by the way.

Like I hate when they do be like, oh, you don't get it in 79. This place was fucking. No, man, I love New York in every phase. It's like people that I love.

Yeah. Right? Like I loved the New York when I was a kid and I was scared shitless to be here because if you went to 42nd Street, you're like, I'm not going to lose my virginity or my life, but they both seem scary at this point in my life. You know, or the New York City of like, you know, that two decades later when everything was all cleaned up and it was like, what is this place?

Or like, New York City is always phenomenal. Period in a story. And for me, I'm adaptable. I like being adaptable.

Like, I don't like being romantic about yesterday. Yeah. Do I like the clubs when they didn't have phones? No, I was working.

I didn't even go to them. So like, I hear all the stories from everyone. For me, you know, I heard somebody, I like New York before Uber. Somebody said this the other day.

I was like, why? It was more real. It was like people just say shit. That makes no fucking sense.

Like, no, man, when Waymo gets here and it's all self-driveless cars, or like, if they bring back fucking horses and we have no cars and there's horse shit everywhere, I would love it and stinks like shit. I would fucking love New York. Like, I like every version. I don't like being romantic.

I like tomorrow's New York. Can I answer a couple more rapid-fire? Please. More questions.

Yes. What was your greatest Nick's fan moment of your life? I was in a building when John Starks dunked at all the Bulls in that playoff game. Yeah.

How far do you think the Knicks are going to go this year? I think they will be in the NBA Finals. Fuck you, Detroit. What do you think they're going to be in the NBA Finals?

Adam, a little more scared of the West scares me. OK. Do you believe in Aaron Glenn? Yes, I do.

On the record, I believe in Aaron Glenn. I understand why people wouldn't. It was not the easiest season. But I have insider information.

We rep saw Scarner of Vayner Sports. We rep Aiden Hutchinson. Jaylen Reeves, Maven. I leave him.

Like, we know a lot of players that have played for this man. I know a ton of guys on the team. It was a rough year. We judge these coaches and athletes on their lowest day or their lowest moment or their lowest game.

I've had tons of shitty bad days, last year as an owner and operator. But overall, to me, I need to give Aaron Glenn two more full seasons. To say next year, if he sucks, he's out. We don't have the foundation yet.

So to me, I would be fine with three years of Aaron Glenn. That third year, I'd have to see something for real. But next year, we have a huge re-agency and a huge draft. We could be a very different team.

We've got a long way to go. Seven and 10 next year is like, OK. On that note, do you think the Knicks have tips too early? I felt like they didn't.

That was my feeling. I don't have to ram back, Tim. But I'm happy with coach right now. And I'm like, but I'm happy McDermott got fired in Buffalo.

Yeah. I hate the bills. One more question. I'm just sliding in fucking hate, teams I hate.

While I'm on that, fuck the Patriots. Nice. Should the Jets target a quarterback via rookie draft or a free agency? If the Jets take a quarterback in the first two rounds, one of their four picks and top 50, I will jump out the window.

I will be dead. This is not the class to do it. We're loaded in 27. It's a monster class.

It would be insane. I would die. I would be like, moo, you're such a beast. Why did you have a brain tool?

I get the people who are impatient. This is not, I want a veteran. Give me fucking any veteran. Realistically, when do you think the Jets will win a Super Bowl?

I have no fucking idea. But I know if my lifelong goal of buying the Jets becomes true one day, it will happen in my lifetime. That I can promise you. OK, that's going to happen.

I'm going to go back to this clip. I want to ask you about collectibles. You've been a fan of collectibles for so long. You've built a huge defense ecosystem IP.

Yes, this drop. Yes, this drop. This drop today. Go Google it.

Chat you if you can figure it out, but go ahead. Do you think NYC Comic World has impacted you and influenced you in a way that is connected to be friends? Is there any New York connection to be friends? Yeah, Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Oh, yeah. You know, when I was a kid, those floats of all those IPs, Snoopy, Star Wars, I remember He-Man did a re-enaction, like, 85 FAO Schwartz. Yes. Fuck in.

You do miss FAO Schwartz, though. That's something the old school New Yorkers miss. Oh, I miss plenty of things. I just don't like being like, well, I was better than 84.

It's always going to be better. I just love New York. It's a fun place. FAO Schwartz is amazing.

You know, fucking Canal Street, $2 fucking transformer t-shirts back in 87. The Pokemon rip, like that's a real one. But the Pokemon rip, like, you know, like, yeah. I mean, New York's visual of all the IP like through the years and all shapes and sizes, like for sure impacted me.

But I would say the 80s impacted me, right? The 80s, Al, Smurfs, J.I. Joe. You might have a three year younger sister.

So we were very close to like the shit she was into. Cabbage Patch Kids, fucking Caravirus, fucking. My little ponies, Max Hedrum, Mask, like, Star Wars, E.T. Like, we were just getting fed such new IP, which is why I'm trying to build the next big IP, plus I'm an 11 year younger brother.

So we got right in there with Pokemon. Exactly. So you know, it's all that kind of stuff. Like, yeah.

Thank you so much, Gary. Appreciate you. Everybody, if you enjoyed this podcast, please go back and look at the prior episodes. They're loaded.

I appreciate your attention. And thanks for being part of this journey. See you later.

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This episode is 19 minutes long.

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This episode was published on February 27, 2026.

What is this episode about?

In this episode of the GaryVee Audio Experience, I sit down with Benji, the host of New Yorker to discuss why New York City is the "greatest city in the actual world," my advice for young people navigating their careers and the AI revolution, and...

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